Each year a large number of accidental oil discharges occur in navigable waters, some of which are reported to the appropriate authorities, others are not. These unreported oil discharges generally remain undetected until the appropriate authorities, as a part of anti-pollution patrols, locate the discharge or oil slick. Various laboratory techniques are then used to identify characteristic constituents of oil slick samples in an attempt to locate the potential sources of the unreported oil discharge.
A key element in the identification process is the collection of an adequate sample of the oil slick. Existing methods and apparatus for collection are crude and inefficient and ill suited for deployment from helicopters or other aircraft. Moreover, the problem of sample contamination is ever present in the collection, handling and delivery of the oil slick sample to the laboratory for analysis.